God. Which is a plain proof, that the fcriptures were originally written in fuch a manner as they might be beft understood by the people: and confequently it is defeating the very end and defign of writing them, to take away the key of knowledge, and to keep them locked up in an unknown tongue. We may obferve too that in the former part of the book of Daniel he is generally fpoken of in the third perfon, but in the latter part he fpeaketh of himself in the first perfon, which is fome kind of proof that this part was written by himself if the other was not, but probably this diverfity might arise from the different dates, the one being written fome time after the other.

Daniel's former vifion of the four great beafts, reprefenting the four great empires of the world, was (VII. 1.) in the first year of Beljhazzar king of Babylon. He had another vifion in the third year of the reign of the fame King Belshazzar, that is (1) about 553 years before Chrift. (VIII. 1.) In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar, a vifio appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the firft. It was exhibited to him (ver. 2.) at the palace in Shufhau, and by the fide of the river Ulai, or Eulæus, as it is called by the Greeks and Romans. And I faw in a vifion, (and it came to pass when I faw, that I was at Shushan in the palace, which is in the province of Elam) and I faw in a vifion, and I was by the river Ulai. So likewife the prophet Ezekiel faw vifions by the river Chebar; as if the holy Spirit had delighted to manifeft himself in fuch retired fcenes; and the gifts and graces of the Spirit are often in fcripture-language defcribed by the metaphors of fprings and ftreams of water, than which nothing was more agreeable and refreshing in hot and dry countries.

Such was the time and place of the vifion. The vifion itself was of a ram and he-goat. And we may obferve with the learned (2) Bochart, that others alfo have had like

(1) See Ufher, Prideaux, and other chronologers.

(2) Obfervemus etiam aliis apparuiffe vifiones hujufmodi, quæ fu

tura portenderent. Ita, Plutarcho tefte in vita Syllæ. In Campania, circa Tiphaton montem (qui aliis Tifata) interdiu vifi funt confligere magni

So Plutarch re

like vifions, portending future events. ports in the life of Sylla, that two great goats were seen fighting in Campania, and fuddenly the vifion vanifhed: not long afterwards in that very place Sylla having routed and flain feven thousand men, befieged the conful in Capua. In the Brutus of Accius, which is cited by Cicero in his first book of Divination, Tarquinus Superbus relates his dream, "that a fhepherd drove his flock to him; two rams of the fame breed were selected from thence, both choice and beautiful, and he killed the finer of them; the other rushed upon him with his horns, and caft him down and wounded him." Thefe rams of the fame breed fignified Lucius Junius Brutus and his brother; one of whom was flain by Tarquin, and the other rofe against Tarquin, and defpoiled him of his kingdom. So that the probabilities of the poets and hiftorians bear fome refemblance to the realities of holy writ. Or rather, in this inftance of prophecy, as in the ceremonials of religion and the modes of government, God was pleafed to condefcend and conform to the customs and manners of the age, to make thereby a stronger impreffion on the minds of the people. Nor is fuch a condefcenfion unworthy of the deity, nor unfuitable to the other methods of his providence, but is rather an argument of his infinite goodness.

In the former vifion there appeared four beafts, because there four empires were reprefented: but here are only two, because here we have a reprefentation of what

birci duo, et ea omnia facere et pati, que viri in pugna folent. Spectrum autem e terra fenfim elatum, paulo poft diffipatum, et ex oculis elapfum, eft. Nec multo poft Sylla, Mario Juniore et Norbano confule, in eo

ipfo loco fufis, et profligatis, et cæfis hominum feptem millibus, confulem inclufit Capuæ. Et in Accii Bruto, qui a Cicerone citatur libro primo De Divinatione, Tarquinius fuperbus fuum hoc fomnium narrat. Vifum eft in fomnis paftorem ad me appellere Pecus lanigerum eximia pulchritudine, Duos confanguineos arietes inde eligi, Præclarioremque alterum immolare me: Deinde ejus germanum cornibus connitier In me arietare, eoque me al cafum dari: Exin proftratum terra gravitur faucium, Refupinum, in cœlo conturi maximum, &c. Hi arietes confanguinei L. Junium Brutum, et fritrem ejus a Tarquinio cæfum fignificabant; quorum ille, in

Tarquinium infurgens, eum regno fuo fpoliavit. Bocharti Hierozoic. Pars Prior. Lib. 2. Cap. 46. Col. 527. →

was

was tranfacted chiefly within two empires. The firft of the four empires, that is the Babylonian, is wholly omitted here, for its fate was fufficiently known, and it was now drawing very near to a conclufion. The fecond empire in the former vifion, is the firft in this; and what was there compared to a bear, is here prefigured by a ram. Then I lifted up mine eyes, faith Daniel (ver. 3.) and faw, and behold, there stood before the river, a ram which had two horns, and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up laft. This ram, with two horns, according to the explication of the angel Gabriel, was the empire of the Medes and Perfians; (ver. 20.) The ram which thou faweft having two horns, are the kings or kingdoms of Media and Perfia. The fource of this figure of horns for kingdoms, as a (3) learned writer obferves, must be derived from the ori ental languages, in which the fame word fignifies a horn, and a crown, and power, and fplendor. Whence a horn was an enfign of royalty among the Phenicians, and the Hebrew word keren or a horn, is feveral times by the Chaldee paraphrafts rendered & malchutha or a kingdom; and horns are frequently ufed for kings and kingdoms in the Old Teftament. This empire therefore, which was formed by the conjunction of the Medes and Perfians, and is often called the Medo-Perfian, was not unfitly reprefented by a ram with two horns. Cyrus, the founder of this empire, was (4) fon of Cambyfes king of Perfia, and by his mother Mandane was grandfon of Aftyages king of Media; and afterwards marrying the daughter and only child of his uncle Cyaxares king of Medea, he fucceeded to both crowns, and united the kingdoms of Media and Perfia. It was a coalition of two very formidable powers, and therefore it is faid that the two horns were high: but one, it is added, was higher

(3) Quam melius itaque ex linguis orientis potuiffet hujus rei fons erui? quibus, ut id eft jam contritum, eadem voce cornu, corona, potentia, ac fplendor nuncupantur. Unde cornu, regium infigne apud Phoenices, et Hebræorum 1p feu cornu Chaldæis interpretibus aliquoties na feu

regnum redditur, ut vidit illuftris Grotius; et cornua pro regno et regibus paffim in veteri fcedere. Spanheim de Ufu Numifmatum. Vol. 1. Diff. 7. p. 400.

(4) Xenophon. Cyropæd. Lib. 1. et 8.

than

than the other, and the higher came up laft. The king. dom of Media was the nore ancient of the two, and more famous in hiftory; Perfia was of little note or account till the time of Cyrus: but under Cyrus the Per fians gained and maintained the afcendent; fome (5) authors fay that Cyrus fubdued the king of the Medes by force of arms; and his fon (6) Cambyfes on his deathbed earnestly exhorted the Perfians not to fuffer the kingdom to return again to the Medes. But a queftion ftill remains, why that empire, which was before likened to a bear for its cruelty, thould now be reprefented by a ram? Mr. Mede's conjecture is ingenious and plaufible enough, (7) that the Hebrew word for a ram, and the Hebrew word for Perfa, both fpringing from the fame root, and both implying fomething of ftrength, the one is not improperly made the type of the other. The propriety of it appears farther from hence, as is fuggefted likewife by another writer in the general preface to Mr. Mede's works, that it was usual for the king of Perfia to wear a ram's head made of gold, and adorned with precious ftones, instead of a diadem; for fo (8) Ammianus Marcellinus defcribes him. Bishop Chandler and others farther (9) obferve, that "rams heads with horns, one "higher and the other lower, are still to be seen on the pillars at Perfepolis."

The great exploits of the ram are recapitulated in the next verfe. (ver. 4.) I faw the ram pufhing weftward, and northward, and fouthward, fo that no beafts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand, but he did according to his will and became great.

(5) Herod. Lib. 1. Sect. 130. p. 56. Edit. Gale. Strabo. Lib. 15. p. 730. Edit. Paris 1620. p. 1062. Ed. Amftel. 1707. Juftin. Lib. 1. Cap. 6.

(6) Herod. Lib. 3. Se&t. 65. p. 188. Edit. Gale.

(7) quis fufpicari poffit etiam arietis de rege Perfarum in eadem vifione typum, ad nominis Elam quod alterum duorum eft quo ea gens appelletur fignificatum alludere. 58 enim Hebræis (unde nomen bx aries) etx atque by Chaldæis, idem fignificant, nempe fortem leu robuftum

effe. Forte igitur by Elam iftis, ut illis x arietem fonabat, indéque rex Elam hoc typo Danieli figuratur. Mede's Works. B. 3. Com. Apoc. p. 474.

(8) aureum capitis arietini figmentum interftinctum lapillis pro diademate geftans. Amm. Marcell. Lib. 19. Cap. 1. p. 208. Edit. Valefii. Paris 1681.

(9) Bp. Chandler's Vindication, Chap. 1. Sect. 4. p. 154. Aries item biconis inter rudera Perfepoleos. Werftein in Rev. XIII. 11.

Under

Under Cyrus himself, the Perfians pufhed their conquefts westward (1) as far as the Egean fea and the bounds of Afia: northward they fubdued (2) the Armenians, Cappadocians, and various other nations: fouthward they conquered Egypt, if not under Cyrus as (3) Xenophon affirms, yet moft certainly under (4) Cambyfes, the fon and fucceffor of Cyrus. Under Darius they fubdued (5) India, but in the prophecy no men→ tion is made of their conquefts in the east, because those countries lay very remote from the Jews and were of little concern or confequence to them. The ram was strong and powerful, fo that no beafts might ftand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; that is none of the neighbouring kingdoms were able to contend with the Perfians, but all fell under their dominion. He did according to his will and became great: and the Perfian empire was increased and inlarged to fuch a degree, that it extended (Efther I. 1.) from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred and feven and twenty pro vinces; fo that feven provinces were added to the hun dred and twenty (Dan. VI. 1.) which it contained in the time of Cyrus.

After the ram the he-goat appears next upon the fcene. And as I was confidering, faith Daniel, (ver. 5.) behold, an he-goat came from the weft on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. Which is thus interpreted by the angel Gabriel, (ver. 21.) The rough goat is the king of Grecia, and the great horn that is between his eyes, is the firft king, or kingdom. A goat is very properly made the type of the Grecian or Macedonian empire, because the Macedonians at firft, about two hundred years before Daniel, were denominated Egeade or the goat's people; and upon this occafion, as heathen authors report. Caranus, their firft king, going with a great multitude of Greeks to feek new habitations in Macedonia, was commanded by the oracle to take the goats for his guides to empire: and afterwards feeing a

(1) Herod. Lib. 1. Xenophon. Cyropæd. Lib. 7.

(2) Xenoph. ibid. Lib. 3. et 7. (3) Xenoph. ibid. Lib. 1. et 8.

(4) Herod. Lib. 3.

(s) Herod. Lib.4. Cap. 44. p. 439Edit. Gale.

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